New interim CEO/dean selected at UW-Rock County

JANESVILLE  UW-Rock County Associate Dean Kim Kostka will serve as interim campus executive officer and dean starting July 1 while a national search is conducted for a successor to Diane Pillard.

Chancellor of UW Extension and UW Colleges Ray Cross made the announcement Wednesday.

Jim Veninga was named interim CEO/dean in April, but he recently asked to withdraw for personal reasons, Cross said in a news release.

Kostka has been associate dean at UW-Rock since 2009. She is a professor of chemistry and served as the chair of the UW Colleges chemistry department from 2003-05.

She joined the UW-Rock faculty in 1993.

“Kim Kostka is familiar with the challenges facing UW-Rock County and has the support of outgoing CEO/Dean Diane Pillard, so I am confident that the campus will be in good hands during the national search for a new CEO/dean,” Cross said in a message to faculty and staff.

Pillard announced in January that she will step down in July after six years in that post. The campus executive officer and dean serves as the chief operating officer and chief academic officer and also represents the campus in the community.